The present invention relates to a safety belt reel assembly, and more particularly to a safety belt reel assembly for use in connection with a safety belt mounted in a vehicle.
Many vehicles are today fitted with seat belts which are wound on so-called inertia reels. The inertia reel is spring loaded and will tend to wind in any slack in the seat belt once the belt has been positioned on an occupant in the vehicle, and will also tend to wind in the seat belt when the belt is removed from the occupant in the vehicle.
In a conventional reel assembly a central spindle is rotatably mounted within a support, with one end of a seat belt being attached to the spindle so that the seat belt may be wound around the spindle. If the length of belt to be wound onto the spindle arrives at the take up point of the roll of belt on the spindle in a direction such that it is aligned with the roll, then the belt will be wound in automatically by the spring loading of the spindle. However, if the length of belt to be wound in arrives at the take up point of the roll with it longitudinal axis not perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the spindle, i.e. if the belt approaches the take up point of the roll from one side of the roll in the width direction of the belt, or if the length of belt to be wound in approaches the take up point whilst in a twisted condition, then the belt may snag and be prevented from being wound onto the spindle. It is therefore desirable to provide some form of guide for the seat belt, so that the belt arrives at the roll in the desired orientation and is wound onto the reel evenly and under uniform tension across the width of the belt.
It has been previously proposed to provide a reel assembly with a belt guide in the form of an elongate slot, the guide being mounted on a seat belt reel assembly with its longitudinal axis aligned parallel to the axis of the spindle on which the belt is wound. The belt guide is movably mounted on the reel assembly so that it is always positioned in alignment with the take up point of the belt roll, i.e. the guide slot is capable of moving in the diametral direction of the roll, with the slot being retained parallel to the longitudinal axis of the belt roll at all times. Whilst this particular arrangement ensures that the belt arrives at the take up point of the roll in the desired orientation, it may cause excessive belt wear if the belt arrives at the guide whilst twisted or if the belt arrives at the guide from one side, in the width direction of the belt. These problems have been encountered particularly in connection with automatic seat belt systems for motor vehicles, which automatically place a seat belt on an occupant in the vehicle.